Case Number 25906

Stoker (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Stoker? Judge Gordon Sullivan barely even knew her.

The Charge

Do not disturb the family.

Opening Statement

There is a paradox around certain great creators: They're figures who are
obviously important, who push their art form in new directions, but they can
also be the people whose advances are hardest to assimilate. Picasso might be
one of the greatest examples in the twentieth century; his work was obviously
important and signaled a shift in painting, but how is it possible to be
influenced by Picasso without lots of elongated figures and monochromatic
colors? There are countless examples of this problem in cinema, but Alfred
Hitchcock may be the most potent. His work obviously demonstrates a mastery of
cinematic form, narrative suspense, and emotional tension—and yet his
influence often leads to films that look like cheap imitations. Even a great
director like Dario Argento can't make an homage to Hitchcock without producing
a cheap copy of the original. With Stoker, Park Chan-wook (with the help
of a screenplay by Wentworth Miller) has seemingly done the impossible, creating
a film that feels indebted to Hitchcock without feeling like a slavish
imitation. The fact that it is a wild, weird, and wonderful ride with an
excellent Blu-ray release only makes the film more impressive.

Facts of the Case

India (Mia Wasikowska, Alice in
Wonderland) has just lost her father, when her Uncle Charles (Matthew Goode,
Watchmen) appears and decides to live
with India and her mother (Nicole Kidman, The Golden Compass). That would be
great, but she's never heard of Uncle Charlie before, and things start to get
weird around the house.

The Evidence

The main reason that Stoker feels like a successful attempt at
borrowing from Hitchcock is that it doesn't go for Hitchcock's "one
picture, one genre" rule. Most of Hitch's films are thrillers, and aside
from the occasional touch of light comedy tend to stick to that genre.
Stoker has no such intentions. Its core is a thriller in the Hitchcock
vein: Who is this Uncle Charlie and what does he have in store for the
dysfunctional pair of India and her mother? Along the way, we also get a
portrait of a family in melodramatic style. There's also a bit of misunderstood
teen drama. That's just the narrative elements. Visually the film ranges from
horror to stylish thriller and back again without ever feeling overwrought. It's
hard to say too much more about these elements of the film without spoilers, so
suffice it to say that Stoker is not a film that stays within generic
conventions.

It's also a film filled with visual inventions. Park has been wowing
international audiences with his seminal Vengeance Trilogy for a decade, and
Stoker is his English-language debut. When inventive Asian directors make
English-language debuts, we often see two big problems. The first is that in
making the transition to American cinema, everything that made the director
interesting in the first place is sanded off by studio filmmaking. That's not
the case here. Certainly Stoker doesn't have the scope for some of Park's
visual theatrics (like the famous tunnel fight of Oldboy), but working with a smaller
canvas doesn't mean he's any less interesting. There are Gothic touches, odd
camera angles, and visual doublings and symbolism galore for fans of the
director to appreciate.

The other problem that plagues many directors with their English-language
debut is the problem of acting. It's much harder to judge good performances in a
non-native tongue. The problem is usually solved by having the director work on
an action-heavy script that requires little dialogue and lots of stunt work
(which is more of an international language). Not so with Stoker. Park
solves the problem by hiring a trio of amazing actors as his leads. Mia
Wasikowska is the center of everything here. She has to play the subtle shifts
as her character discovers her sexuality and maturity, being both open to new
experiences but wary of change. Nicole Kidman is excellent as India's mother,
someone similarly (re)discovering her own sexuality while also dealing with the
responsibilities of motherhood. Matthew Goode amps up the charm as Charlie. He
could have stepped out of any of the last half a dozen decades, with a cool The Talented Mr. Ripley vibe that makes him
both attractive and menacing. The supporting cast are excellent as well, but the
majority of the movie is carried by these three.

Stoker (Blu-ray) is exactly what the film deserves. Shot on 35mm,
this 2.40:1/1080p AVC-encoded transfer preserves the rich, filmlike quality of
the visuals. Detail in many shots is delightful, and colors are intentionally
muted and cool. Black levels are consistent and deep, and no digital
manipulation or compression artefacts are apparent. The film's audio is
similarly well-represented. Stoker probably deserves to win ever sound
award for the year. It's design is subtle and powerful, aiding character
development and giving a strong sense of place. This DTS-HD 5.1 track shows that
perfectly. Dialogue is always clean and clear, but it's the subtle sounds (like
the shell of a hardboiled egg cracking) that really show the clarity and detail
of the soundstage. Clint Mansell's score, which is itself subtle and moody, gets
a lot of dynamic range as well.

Extras start off with a 28-minute making-of featurette that covers the gamut
of info about the film, from script to production. Another set of featurettes
includes interviews that were obviously conducted for the making-of featurette
but focus on different aspects (like the poster). We also get 10 minutes of
deleted scenes, two sets of still photos, 16 minutes of red carpet footage, a
music video, and a trailer suite. A commentary from Wentworth Miller would have
put this set over the edge, but what's here is good.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Stoker is a strange little movie. Self-consciously stylistic, it
doesn't follow normal genre conventions nor offer any easy pleasures. I don't
want to say too much in the way of spoiling the film, but it's also not a film
that shies away from sexuality, and not the usual boy-meets-girl sexuality of
most Hollywood affairs. It's relevant that the scribe of Secretary and Chloe (Erin Cressida Wilson) is listed as a
contributing writer on the screenplay. That's not a problem for me, but I can
see that kind of sexuality being a bit much for some folks.

Closing Statement

Stoker will ultimately be a polarizing film, with some drawn to the
bizarre world of the story and some repulsed. In either case the film is worth
watching for fans of off-kilter thrillers as well as those who admire the actors
or director. The excellence of the Stoker (Blu-ray) release makes rental
or purchase easy to recommend.